Plants that Heal..... Aloe Vera

I don't know much about plants and their healing abilities – another area of homesteading in which I'm a complete neophyte. I do know, however, that people survived for hundreds of years without a CVS pharmacy! There is healing in plants that we can grow in our own soil, we just have to learn what they are and how to use them. Here is yet another lost art. I'm sure my great-grandmother knew what herbs would good for stomach aches, or what would help a skin rash. I've even read that there are plants that are natural bug repellants! Wow. So much to learn.

One little plant that I do know a little about is Aloe Vera. I have pots and pot of the stuff. It just keeps growing and growing dozens of little offshoots. I have given it away and still have a ton. Aloe doesn't like the cold weather or frost, so pretty soon I'll have to re-locate it all inside.

Here are a few uses we have found for Aloe:

Sunburn treatment – it's soothing and cool and feels great on a sunburn. I'm sure it could be used to treat minor burns of any kind.

Eczema – My now 13 year old used to be plagued with Eczema. Aloe soothed his itchy skin. I managed to avoid all those nasty steroid creams by just treating him with Aloe.

Bug Bites? Okay, I don't know about this one, but my six-year-old daughter constantly breaks off little bits of Aloe to treat her mosquito bites. She says it helps the itching. It works for her so I say, go for it!

Bottom line, Aloe is quite handy to have around. I'm sure a quick Google search would yield many more uses for this versatile little plant!

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